Nottingham Forest fan pundit issues verdict on Brice Samba’s future following Stoke City incident

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper should persist with Brice Samba despite his red card against Stoke City for violent conduct, our FLW Nottingham Forest Fan Pundit Des Oldham has said.

The Congolese stopper was given his marching orders late on against the Potters on Saturday afternoon after lashing out at Phil Jagielka after the ex-England international barged into Samba following a corner kick.

A penalty was also awarded to the visitors as a result, with Lewis Baker’s conversion making it 2-1 to Michael O’Neill’s side.

Samba’s antics didn’t cost Forest all three points in the end as a 92nd minute Ryan Yates effort salvaged a draw for Cooper’s outfit, but the main talking point was what Samba did.

Cooper revealed post-match that Samba deserved to be sent off for his actions, but Oldham believes that despite some of the things he does on the pitch, the 25-year-old should be persisted with in the long-term for his goalkeeping abilities.

“Steve Cooper should definitely be looking to hold on to Brice Samba,” Oldham said.

“At 25 he’s still relatively young in goalkeeping terms and whilst Cooper’s got a lot of work to do to improve his temperament, Samba has got all the attributes to be a top, top goalkeeper.”

“A fantastic show-stopper, great angling – his distribution could be improved but Cooper works with young players and hopefully can iron out some of his disciplinary issues which ultimately this season could cost us going forward.”

The Verdict

Samba has been walking a tightrope for some time now